Despite the scoreline, a mutual respect between the two organizations was evident.

"The coach at Durham here, Ramin, he and I have a great relationship and I have a lot of respect for him," said FC London head coach, Mike Marcoccia.

"He is a quality coach and person and one of the people I respect the most in this league."

"I knew that he was playing with some younger players tonight and he tried to play the game that he played rather than taking short-cuts. He was teaching his players tonight. He knew that he couldn't get the result but he was teaching and that was amazing."

(Photo: Marty Thompson)

Durham United FA head coach Ramin Mohammadi even asked London striker Jade Kovacevic - the current League1 Golden Boot leader and a previous member of the Canadian women's national team program - to have a word with his players after the match.

"[Ramin] asked Jade to say a couple words due to her experience and background of having been in the national team program," confirmed Marcoccia.

"Jade hit the nail on the head when she said the most impressive thing was those young players tried to play tonight. When I say "play," I mean a nice style."

"The coach of Durham, Ramin, just asked me to speak a word to the team because he has some very bright young individuals," added Kovacevic.

"I just wanted to share my thoughts and say they have a very bright future and the score tonight did not reflect the quality of their play. Score is one thing, but players should be worried more about how they did on the field - in terms of decision-making under pressure and things like that - and I think these players all have a bright future because a lot of times they made situations difficult for us on the field."

FC London will next play Vaughan Azzurri on September 17 at McNaughton Park, Vaughan.

Durham United FA will next play Sanjaxx Lions on September 17 at Monarch Park, Toronto.